Gameplay
The original ''Fatal Fury'' is known for the two-plane system. Characters fight from two different planes. By stepping between the planes, attacks can be dodged with ease. Later games have dropped the two-plane system, replacing it with a complex system of dodging, including simple half second dodges into the background and a three plane system. Characters have moves that can attack across the two planes, attack both planes at once, or otherwise attack dodge characters. The plane system was fully abandoned from later releases beginning with ''Garou: Mark of the Wolves''. Later ''Fatal Fury'' games have experimented with various mechanical changes. "Ring-outs" allow a character to lose the round if the character is thrown into the edges of the fighting backdrop; single-plane backdrops, where dodging is eliminated altogether, causing moves that send opponents to the opposite plane to do collateral damage. The "Deadly Rave" is a super combo used by several characters, where after execution, a player had to press a preset series of buttons with exact timing for the entire combo to execute. The "Just Defend" is a type of protected block in which players regained lost life, did not wear down the player's guard crush meter and removed all block stuns making combo interruptions smoother.Plot
Setting
''Fatal Fury'' and its sister series, '' Art of Fighting'', are set in the same fictional universe; while ''Art of Fighting'' takes place in the late 1970s, the story of ''Fatal Fury'' begins over a decade later in the early 1990s. The two series are set primarily in the same fictional city of "South Town", loosely based on the real-life city ofCharacters
As with most fighting games, the ''Fatal Fury'' series has an extensive cast of characters that increases with each installment. The series' primary protagonists include Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard and Joe Higashi, all introduced in the original game, and female ninja Mai Shiranui, introduced in ''Fatal Fury 2''; these four characters have appeared in every series entry since their debut, with the exception of ''Garou: Mark of the Wolves''. The series' most prominent antagonist is Geese Howard, a crime lord in South Town responsible for the death of the Bogard brothers' father, who is often accompanied by his right hand man Billy Kane. Other members of Geese's family have appeared as major antagonists throughout the series, including half brother Wolfgang Krauser; distant relatives the Jin brothers; and brother in law Kain R. Heinlein. ''Garou: Mark of the Wolves'' acts as a soft reboot of the series, taking place ten years after the previous games and featuring an almost entirely new cast of fighters, with the story primarily focusing on Rock Howard, son of Geese Howard and protégé of Terry Bogard. Terry, now completely redesigned, is the only returning character in ''Mark of the Wolves''; however, other legacy ''Fatal Fury'' characters return in its sequel, ''City of the Wolves''. Certain characters are shared with the ''Art of Fighting'' series to more closely establish continuity between the two; for example, '' Art of Fighting 2'' features Geese Howard and depicts his initial rise to power in South Town, while multiple ''Art of Fighting'' characters appear in ''City of the Wolves''. Some characters have also made appearances outside the ''Fatal Fury'' series, particularly in ''The King of Fighters''.Story
In 1981, ten years prior to the events of ''Fatal Fury: King of Fighters'', Terry and his brother Andy are adopted by Jeff Bogard, only for Jeff to be killed in front of them by his former rival Geese Howard. Determined, the brothers spend the next decade training to become stronger, meeting new allies like Joe Higashi and Mai Shiranui, before returning to South Town to participate in the "King of Fighters" fighting tournament being held by Geese. After winning the tournament, Terry and Geese have a showdown at the top of Geese Tower, and Geese is sent falling from the building, believed to be dead. One year later in ''Fatal Fury 2'', Geese's half brother Wolfgang Krauser hosts a new global King of Fighters tournament in a bid to draw out Geese's killers and prove himself stronger. At the end of the tournament, Terry defeats Krauser, who is said to have taken his own life in shame. In ''Fatal Fury 3'', set three years later, Terry and his friends learn that Geese survived his fall using a magic scroll, and now seeks to recover the three legendary Sacred Scrolls of Jin, said to imbue their user with great power. With the scrolls spotted in South Town, Terry and the others race to recover the scrolls before Geese while also contending with Jin Chonshu and Jin Chonrei, two Chinese orphans possessed by the spirits of their ancestors that seek to use the scrolls to resurrect themselves. Geese recovers the scrolls, but chooses to destroy them so they cannot be used against him. In ''Real Bout: Fatal Fury'', to assert his power, Geese holds another "King of Fighters" tournament, which culminates in a final battle between him and Terry. Geese is once again knocked from his tower, and though Terry tries to save him, Geese refuses and willingly falls to his death. Seeking to end the cycle of violence, Terry decides to raise Geese's now orphaned young son, Rock Howard. ''Real Bout Fatal Fury 2'' also serves as a side story of the characters' current whereabouts, ten years prior to ''Garou: Mark of the Wolves''. Terry and the now grown up Rock are invited to participate in the new "King of Fighters: Maximum Mayhem" tournament. They later learn that it was organized by Rock's maternal uncle, Kain R. Heinlein, who seeks to use Geese's legacy to make Second Southtown an independent city-state. When Kain reveals that Rock's mother Marie is still alive, Rock leaves Terry to go with Kain in order to learn the truth and save his mother. One year later in ''Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves'', Kain's investigations determine Marie has been held captive by Mr. Big, who demands Geese's legacy in exchange for her freedom. Billy Kane reveals to Rock that Geese's legacy includes the Sacred Scrolls, which Billy had preserved and given Geese fakes of to destroy. Before Billy can give Rock the legacy, all of it is stolen by an unknown figure. Days later, a new King of Fighters tournament is announced by Franz Stroheim, with the stolen legacy offered as the prize. Rock, Kain, Billy, Terry, and several others enter the tournament to retrieve the legacy and rescue Marie. While Rock and Terry manage to enter the finals at Geese Tower, Kain and Billy are able to cooperate with Mr. Big on protecting Marie from their enemy forces. Suddenly, Marie got in a crossfire between Mr. Big and his former underling, Jack Turner, causing the Jin scrolls somehow react to Rock, and has the boy become possessed by a spirit of the third Jin brother, and assume an attire resembles' Geese, dubbed "Fallen Rock". While Terry and the others hold off the possessed Rock, Rock is fighting to regain his body inside his mind. Before Rock returns to normal and awakens, he and Billy receive respective visions that reveal the truth behind Geese's good reason to abandon him and Marie, and his family's relation with the Jin dynasty through Geese and Wolfgang's father, Rudolph Krauser. The reason Rock serves as the third Jin brother's reincarnation instead of Geese, Wolfgang nor Rudolph is because he and his distant relatives, the modern day Jin twins Chonrei and Chonshu are the same generation with similar desires. With all three ancestral Jin brothers defeated, the reincarnation curse which caused by their father has been lifted, reuniting the trio in the afterlife. Having finally reunited with his mother, who currently resides with her brother, Kain, Rock decides to forge his own brighter path as his late father wanted and thanks Terry for raising him, while Billy decides to protect and honor the Howard family's legacy. Several other ''Fatal Fury'' games have been released, though these games' stories are not a part of the main series canon. These include ''Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition'', which retells the story of the original game with characters from later entries, and ''Real Bout Fatal Fury Special: Dominated Mind'', in which new protagonist Alfred stops the evil White from filling the power vacuum in South Town after Geese's death.Development
Series producers Takashi Nishiyama (''Fatal Fury''~''Real Bout Fatal Fury 2'') and Hiroshi Matsumoto (''Fatal Fury 3''~''Mark of the Wolves''), were the planners of the original '' Street Fighter'' (where they were credited as Piston Takashi and Finish Hiroshi). Matsumoto is also the creator of the '' Art of Fighting'' series.Games
Main games
; Original sub-series * '' Fatal Fury'' — The first game of the ''Fatal Fury'' series allowed players to select one of three characters, Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, and Joe Higashi, as they fight against eight computer-controlled opponents, ending with Billy Kane and Geese Howard. When a second player joins in, they have the option of either playing cooperatively with the other player against the CPU or competitively against each other. The game was ported to SNES andSide games
; ''Special'' sub-series * '' Fatal Fury Special'' — An updated and refined version of ''Fatal Fury 2'', including faster game speed. The roster of twelve characters from ''Fatal Fury 2'' returned, with the four CPU boss characters now playable, along with three returning characters from the original ''Fatal Fury'' (Duck King, Tung Fu Rue, and Geese Howard). Ryo Sakazaki from '' Art of Fighting'' appears as a secret final boss. The game was once again ported to the SNES by Takara, with a Sega CD version by JVC, and a PC Engine version by Hudson Soft (once again utilizing the Arcade Card). * '' Real Bout Fatal Fury Special'' — Like ''Fatal Fury Special'', ''Real Bout Fatal Fury Special'' retained many of the characters from the classic ''Fatal Fury'' games; Cheng Sinzan, Laurence Blood, Tung Fu Rue, and Wolfgang Krauser return from ''Fatal Fury Special''. All sixteen of the characters from ''Real Bout Fatal Fury'' return, with Geese Howard now being a secret final boss and hidden playable character. "Extra" versions of Andy Bogard, Tung Fu Rue, Blue Mary, and Billy Kane also appear as secret characters. It was also released for the Sega Saturn in Japan only. Iori Yagami fromCompilations
* ''Fatal Fury Battle Archives Volume 1'' — Contains original versions of ''Fatal Fury'', ''Fatal Fury 2'', ''Fatal Fury Special'' and ''Fatal Fury 3''. It has a language option for each game between Japanese and English. It was released in Japan in July 2006, and the United States in August 2007. * ''Fatal Fury Battle Archives Volume 2'' — Contains ''Real Bout Fatal Fury'', ''Real Bout Fatal Fury Special'' and ''Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers''. The language option offers Japanese, English, Spanish and Portuguese. It was released in Japan in February 2007, and the United States in April 2008.In other media
The ''Fatal Fury'' series inspired a trilogy of animated productions produced by NAS with SNK, featuring character designs by Masami Ōbari. The first is a television special that aired in 1992 onReferences
External links
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